Hospital stops admission, defers elective surgeries

Awaits NOC from fire department, which, officials say, may take a few days; OPD, however, sees rush of 1,400 patients day after fire mishap

- HT Correspondent

LUCKNOW: After the blaze on Monday night, the Lok Bandhu Hospital had stopped admission along with surgeries and testing on the second floor of its main building, the scene of the accident, for at least three to four days, said director Dr Sangeeta Gupta.

"Until we get the NOC (no-objection certificate) from the fire department, the second floor will remain closed for patients," she added.

Non-critical patients had been discharged and given appointments for later dates; elective surgeries had been postponed by a fortnight, hospital officials said.

However, the hospital's outpatient wing saw a footfall of 1,400 patients on Tuesday, they added.

The fire started in the storeroom on the second floor, and filled the entire floor with smoke, especially the female medicine ward, said medical superintendent Dr AS Tripathi.

On the floor are also situated the ICU, the high-dependency unit (HDU), the pediatric ward, and the women's medicine ward.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the repair works had not begun so as not to interfere with the forensic team's inspection of the site.

"Over 200 patients were evacuated from the campus. They were taken to the King George's Medical University, the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (Civil) Hospital and the Balrampur Hospital," Dr Gupta said.

"Non-critical patients have been discharged and given appointments for later dates; and elective surgeries have been postponed by 14 to 15 days..." she added.

Chief medical superintendent Dr Rajeev said: "We saw a footfall of 1,400 people at the outpatient department today... Although we are not taking any admissions, we have prepared over 40 beds for emergency cases." These cases would be given initial treatment and then referred to other hospitals. "We may start admitting patients post a few days after a team of civil engineers have shared their report of the inspection and instructions for action."